We completely sympathise with local people and business who don’t understand or relate to the term Tees Valley, and it may be in the past we have made unwelcome assumptions that everyone should identify with this as the place they live. The fact is that it’s the best term available to us to describe an area extending from Hartlepool to Darlington that is economically inter-dependent. That said, we will be looking at what we call the Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP), if Government gives us the go ahead, but it might be useful if we had a line in our documents to explain that Tees Valley describes an economic partnership.

But we are very keen to work with the local media to get a simple and understandable message across to all our audiences - and as part of this we are willing to talk about Teesside and its towns where this best describes an area to a particular audience.

Business leaders tell us they haven’t been consulted properly on the LEP so how will you ensure it’s private-sector driven going forward?

TVU has always been private-sector driven and the leadership of the LEP will be no different.

Sandy Anderson is TVU’s current chairman and is supported by a leadership board, half of whom are from the private sector. These business figures sit on the board on the basis of their expertise and also on their ability to give of their time on a completely voluntary basis.

The Government has made it clear in its criteria for LEPs that it wants there to be an equal representation of business and civic leaders and that’s what we are proposing. But it mustn’t be a case of just ‘ticking a box’. It has to be about genuine business engagement.

And certainly TVU has already worked hard to make sure this is the case through involving the private sector in a much more targeted way so that we don’t create a ‘talking shop’ but have skilled people on ‘Task and Finish’ groups with defined pieces of work to do. For example, the groups chaired by George Ritchie (Sembcorp), Paul Booth (Sabic) and Steve Bagshaw (Avecia).

We accept though that we didn’t consult explicitly enough before we submitted our outline proposal to become an LEP but we are working hard to put that right.

That said, we always knew that after declaring our initial interest, we would need to spend the next month or so meeting businesses to firm up our proposal - and we’ve done that meeting with the Confederation of Business & Industry, the Federation of Small Business, the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors, the North East Chamber of Commerce, key companies who are part of TVU’s Strategic Account Management programme and the North East Process Industry Cluster and its members. Each local authority has also been meeting with its key companies - so in Stockton over 450 businesses have been given the chance to meet and talk about the LEP in more detail. We also have plans to meet the Engineering Employers’ Federation and the Civil Engineering Contractors Association and the Tees Valley Business Club in the coming weeks.

We made the assumption, clearly wrongly, that by having the business community involved at various levels in TVU and that over 100 businesses were consulted and supportive of TVU’s Statement of Ambition that they were supportive of our desire to declare an interest in becoming an LEP.

In short, we are doing more to engage with business but we know there is far more to be done and this will be a big priority for the new MD and the new structure of TVU going forward.

How will you ensure we don’t lose our powerful regional voice?

As part of our outline proposal we’ve always made it clear that we also supported the creation of a strategic economic body at the North-east level.

This North-east entity will be responsible for six functions based around inward investment, managing European funding, sector development, access to finance and innovation.

As such, they do not compete against one another but rather complement each other because they recognise that some things need to be done locally, and others regionally.

What we are asking for is not an ‘over-arching regional LEP’ but a ‘joined-up’ proposal, that is co-ordinated and where there is clear difference of roles and responsibilities, but a common accountability to the local authorities and the business community.

Did you weaken our regional position by going first with a draft LEP proposal?

While we were the first area of the region to submit an initial proposal to form an LEP, this is completely consistent to and in agreement with the regional proposition.

This is not about ‘going it alone’ against the rest of the North-east - it’s about pressing the case for those functions that Government would see delivered at a national level staying in our region - while at the same time making sure that certain areas of economic activity stay at the local level in order to respond to the unique needs of that area.

A fundamental principle from the word go has been the need to drive growth at the right level. So, taking planning as an example, this is an issue that affects people and their communities at a very local level - so needs to be delivered at this level. While the management of the European Regional Development Fund is better handled at a regional level because it allows us to pool greater levels of funding in order that they can be matched by the same amount of European monies. Here it is certainly a case of a ‘bigger bang for our buck’ .

As has been made clear by Cllr Paul Watson - the chair of ANEC who is also the Leader of Sunderland Council, the Tees Valley LEP and the regional proposal do not compete against one another but rather complement each other.

All 12 councils and the business community under the banner of the Northern Business Forum are united on this.

We know it’s a big opportunity for our area and that we must grasp it but it has to be supported by all those living and working in our five boroughs and also the wider North-east.

What’s our primary focus and what’s the key thing we want from government?

Two priorities are at the heart of our LEP proposal: the first is sustaining and growing the process sector and our existing industrial base in manufacturing which is a strength right across the Tees Valley - while at the same time building on this to take advantage of new opportunities in renewables and low-carbon industries.

TVU estimates that there is up to £8bn of potential commercial investment over the medium term that could be attracted to the area in industries such as oil refinery, ports development and offshore wind construction. So, TVU is working to support this investment by addressing issues such as land development, upgrading utilities, carbon capture and storage and introducing innovative heat to power systems focused around the North and South Tees.

The second priority is to increase the number and variety of local businesses, so that we are not overly-reliant on one kind of industry, that wants a particular kind of workforce with a particular set of skills. In short, we want more and different kinds of businesses that can provide work for a host of people of all ages, backgrounds and abilities.

To help us achieve these two main aims we are looking to Government to give us a greater say in developing our local economy and giving us the freedoms, flexibilities and funding to do so.

If the five local councils each want a slice of the cake, how do we ensure we maintain a big-picture focus?

The councils don’t work that way now - they are collectively the main funders of TVU as they see the wider benefits of working in this collaborative ‘big-picture’ way. The work that TVU has progressed to make the case for investment in the Tees Valley’s bus and metro system is a good example of this where a joint approach will be an asset to the wider sub-region - not just one council area.

The relationship between the five councils is a mature one and they are magnanimous when there is a priority issue - so it isn’t about slicing the cake. While they are each individually ambitious, committed and accountable and want to see investment benefit their areas, they also recognise the real benefits of collaborating across boundaries.

How will you keep the public and business community engaged and interested?

We are engaging with business now but recognise there’s more to do.

We need to keep close to businesses on a range of issues from housing to transport and business investment. It’s also important we recruit the right business people onto our boards and that we retain them and keep them interested.

Some of the work TVU is involved in won’t always be of great interest to the public. It often works behind the scenes to progress projects over the longer term which might not have any significant milestones to report for many months. For instance, the work we are progressing with Government on making sure we have a national grid system that has the capacity to support the growth of our local industries and can be used to capture and recycle the heat and by-products that result, will interest only a specific audience.

However, the LEP proposal does give us an opportunity to do more and say more which will be of a broader appeal. So, TVU has a proactive communications plan in place to provide a regular flow of relevant features to the Gazette and other media. This has already started with the Northshore announcement and the Infinity Bridge appearing in the pages of the Gazette.

How will you address a perceived leadership void and ensure we have a national profile?

TVU already has a well-established profile with Government, particularly with civil servants since we developed our Multi Area Agreement (MAA). The LEP provides more opportunity to build on this and to strengthen these relationships. The change in Government has also provided an opportunity to develop a new political profile and this is starting to be effective. In this sense it can be more productive for the area to be able to demonstrate collaborative leadership rather than having a ‘figurehead’.

That said, those private sector leaders involved in TVU, from Sandy Anderson as chairman, and all of our board members, each have influence and opportunities to represent the area.

We need to use all of our key business people, influential thinkers and activists and all those willing to champion Teesside, Darlington, Hartlepool and the towns and boroughs they represent to raise their voices in support and work together.

Given all the various stakeholders to keep happy, how do you ensure we have a dynamic, fast-paced organisation able to make quick decisions?

TVU has delivered Middlehaven, Northshore and other regeneration schemes in the past operating as TVR and this work has very much continued under the TVU banner. Recent projects include supporting major investment by Ensus in its bioethanol plant, Nifco’s expansion plans in Stockton and contract wins from AMEC in Darlington.

It has also secured significant investment in the Metro and the bus network which has required effective lobbying. But this takes time.

Often when external funding is required this can mean being involved in lengthy funding approval processes which are not always within TVU’s control.

The key thing is that TVU can decide quickly on what its priorities are and we are doing this through our Statement of Ambition and investment planning process. Our work on the MAA and now the LEP is pursuing greater flexibility and freedoms from Government to try to reduce some of these bureaucracies and barriers to investment.

How will you ensure the public can scrutinise your decisions?

TVU Board minutes are already available and are posted on our website after each meeting but we are also looking at TVU’s future governance arrangements.

We also expect the Government will set some criteria on accountability and transparency, setting out the broad principles for each area to address.

Evening Gazette Our Say

IT’S been a rocky ride for Tees Valley Unlimited and its bid for a Local Enterprise Partnership.

For starters, we showed just how unpopular the Tees Valley brand is.

We then brought business leaders together, who were united about a lack of consultation and a need for a powerful Teesside in a powerful North-east.

Today TVU takes the criticism head on. Leaders have listened, accepted some mistakes and made some changes.

More still needs to be done to fully involve business but TVU’s commitment here is clear.